Mr. William E. Downs, Guest of Honor
Manchester, New Hampshire
First Chairman of the Marine Memorial Comm.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Mr. Reg H. Abbott, Candia, New Hampshire
Member of three Marine Memorial Commissions

MOMENT OF SILENCE

In Memory Of Those Lost At Sea

BENEDICTION

Rev. Donald J. Rankin, Pastor
First Congregational Church of Hampton

SOCIAL HOUR & REFRESHMENTS

Guest Book
Miss Terry Silver, Hostess

WILLIAM E. DOWNS' PREPARED REMARKS

May 25, 1974:

"MR. HOLMAN, THE OBSERVANCE OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE MARINE MEMORIAL DEDICATION IS COMMENDABLE AND IS PROPER THAT WE REMEMBER THOSE IT HONORS. YOU HAVE TURNED THE PAGES OF HISTORY BACK TO MAY 25, 1945, WHEN MY SON WAS BURIED AT SEA.

"TWELVE MONTHS LATER, I REQUESTED A GOVERNMENT MARKER TO PLACE ON MY SON'S TOKEN GRAVE, THAT HIS IDENTITY BE RETURNED TO HIS HOMELAND. THIS WAS TURNED DOWN WITH AN ADMONITION FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT WHICH STATED: "DESPITE THOUSANDS OF REQUESTS SUCH AS YOURS, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A MARKER". THIS INFORMATION CAME TO ME IN SENATOR STYLES BRIDGE'S ANSWER TO MY REQUEST.

"LITERALLY, I HAD COME TO THE END OF MY ROPE, I THEN SOUGHT AND RECEIVED THE SUPPORT OF WILLIAM LOEB OF THE MANCHESTER UNION LEADER NEWSPAPERS. OUR TASK FROM THAT DAY WITH THE HELP OF MANY, WAS THE CREATION OF THE MARINE MEMORIAL.

"REG ABBOTT, A MEMBER OF THE MEMORIAL COMMISSION, UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF SHELBY 0. WALKER, VOLUNTEERED TO THE GREAT TASK OF SECURING THE NAMES THAT APPEAR ON THE HONOR ROLL. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST 200 YEARS, THE NAMES OF THOSE LOST AT SEA FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE DURING ALL WARS, WERE RETURNED HOME TO THE BEACH AT HAMPTON.

"I THANK YOU."

William E. Downs
Manchester, NH

Letters To The Editors

Day of Great Importance to 80,000 Families

By William E. Downs, Manchester, N.H.

Manchester Union Leader, Saturday, August 17, 1974

Addressed to William Loeb: August 14, 1958 was a day of importance worthy of note, when the 85th Congress enacted into law P.L. 85-644 granting the families of 80,000 World War II casualties lost at sea, commemorative markers that could be placed on token graves in family burial plots.

{NOTE: See copy of P.L. 85-644 in next article.}

Public Law 85-644

85th Congress, N. R. 4381

August 14, 1958

AN ACT

To amend the Act of July 1, 1948 (62 Stat. 1215) to authorize the furnishing of headstones or markers in memory of members of the Armed Forces dying in the service, whose remains have not been recovered or or were buried at sea.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act of July 1, 1948 (62 Stat. 1215; 24 U.S.C. 279a) is amended:
(1) By adding the following sentence after the first sentence of section 1 thereof: "The Secretary of the Army is authorized and directed to furnish, when requested, an appropriate memorial headstone or marker to commemorate any member of the armed forces of the United States dying in the serevice, whose remains have not been recovered or identified or were buried at sea, for placement by the applicant in a national cemetery or in any private or local cemetery."

(2) By amending section 2 thereof to read as follows:
"The Secretary of the Army is authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations with respect to the submission of applications for all Government headstones and markers and other pertinent matters as may be necessary to caryr out the provision of this Act."